System and Method for Analysis and Management of Data Distribution in a Distributed Database Environment

ABSTRACT

A system and method for analysis and management of data distribution in a distributed database environment. A method may include analyzing information related to transactions between an application and a plurality of data storage systems to produce analysis results. Analysis results may be used to produce a set of rules for defining logical data chunks. A logical data chunk may include at least a portion a data set stored in the plurality of data storage systems. A data distribution policy may be defined based on the set of rules. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 61/936,921, filed Feb. 7, 2014, which is herebyincorporated by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to management of distributeddata storage. More specifically, the present invention relates toidentification and simulation of data distribution policies andclassification and management of logically related data chunks and datasets.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Databases are used for storing digital data or information. In additionto storing data, modern database systems enable users and applicationsto search for, and retrieve stored data. Various systems and methods areused in order to improve and provide services. For example, databasemanagement systems (DBMSs) are designed to interact with users orapplications and provide data storage and retrieval operations.

Horizontal partitioning is a database design or principal wherebyportions of data sets, such as rows of a table, in a database are storedseparately. As known in the art, a database shard is a horizontal in a.Accordingly, an individual partition in a database may be referred to asa shard or a database shard. As known in the art, shards may be used topartition a large database across a number of servers or partitions.Generally, sharding is used in order to distribute or split data overmultiple machines and increase scalability and performance of adatabase.

However, if a data set is split across a number of shards, whenretrieving data from the data set, data from multiple shards needs to bejoined, aggregated or merged.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A system and method for analysis and management of data distribution ina distributed database environment. A method may include analyzinginformation related to transactions between an application and aplurality of data storage systems to produce analysis results. Analysisresults may be used to produce a set of rules for identifying logicaldata chunks. A logical data chunk may include at least a portion a dataset stored in the plurality of data storage systems. A data distributionpolicy may be defined based on the set of rules. A data distributionpolicy may include distribution rules for distribution of portions ofdata in data sets across a plurality of data storage systems. A logicaldata chunk may be stored in a single data shard. Efficiency scores andmetrics for a set of data distribution policies may be generated,presented and provided.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The subject matter regarded as the invention is particularly pointed outand distinctly claimed in the concluding portion of the specification.The invention, however, both as to organization and method of operation,together with objects, features and advantages thereof, may best beunderstood by reference to the following detailed description when readwith the accompanied drawings. Embodiments of the invention areillustrated by way of example and not limitation in the figures of theaccompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals indicatecorresponding, analogous or similar elements, and in which:

FIG. 1 shows high level block diagram of an exemplary computing deviceaccording to embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an overview of a system according to embodiments of thepresent invention;

FIG. 3 is a screenshot of a display according to embodiments of thepresent invention;

FIG. 4 is a screenshot of a display according to embodiments of thepresent invention;

FIG. 5 is a screenshot of a display according to embodiments of thepresent invention;

FIG. 6 is a screenshot of a display according to embodiments of thepresent invention;

FIG. 7 shows a flowchart and components of a system according to anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 shows a flowchart and components of a system according to anembodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 9 shows a flowchart according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

It will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration,elements shown in the figures have not necessarily been drawn accuratelyor to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements may beexaggerated relative to other elements for clarity, or several physicalcomponents may be included in one functional block or element. Further,where considered appropriate, reference numerals may be repeated amongthe figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the following detailed description, numerous specific details are setforth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the invention.However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that thepresent invention may be practiced without these specific details. Inother instances, well-known methods, procedures, and components,modules, units and/or circuits have not been described in detail so asnot to obscure the invention. Some features or elements described withrespect to one embodiment may be combined with features or elementsdescribed with respect to other embodiments. For the sake of clarity,discussion of same or similar features or elements may not be repeated.

Although embodiments of the invention are not limited in this regard,discussions utilizing terms such as, for example, “processing,”“computing,” “calculating,” “determining,” “establishing”, “analyzing”,“checking”, or the like, may refer to operation(s) and/or process(es) ofa computer, a computing platform, a computing system, or otherelectronic computing device, that manipulates and/or transforms datarepresented as physical (e.g., electronic) quantities within thecomputer's registers and/or memories into other data similarlyrepresented as physical quantities within the computer's registersand/or memories or other information non-transitory storage medium thatmay store instructions to perform operations and/or processes. Althoughembodiments of the invention are not limited in this regard, the terms“plurality” and “a plurality” as used herein may include, for example,“multiple” or “two or more”. The terms “plurality” or “a plurality” maybe used throughout the specification to describe two or more components,devices, elements, units, parameters, or the like. The term set whenused herein may include one or more items. Unless explicitly stated, themethod embodiments described herein are not constrained to a particularorder or sequence. Additionally, some of the described methodembodiments or elements thereof can occur or be performedsimultaneously, at the same point in time, or concurrently.

A system and method according to embodiments of the invention mayanalyze information related to databases and transactions between anapplication and a plurality of databases and produce analysis results,analysis results may be used to identify a plurality of data storagerules of logical data chunks, e.g., portions of related data in aplurality of data sets, that are accessed, retrieved or stored by theapplication or database. Analysis results may be used to identify andsuggest a data distribution policy for data distribution and managementin a horizontally partitioned database. The analysis results may be usedto simulate data distribution policies, patterns or scheme and calculatea data distribution efficiency score and produce data distributionsimulation report.

Reference is made to FIG. 1, showing a high level block diagram of anexemplary computing device according to embodiments of the presentinvention. Computing device 100 may include a controller 105 that maybe, for example, a central processing unit processor (CPU), a chip orany suitable computing or computational device, an operating system 115,a memory 120, an executable code 125, a storage 130, input devices 135and output devices 140. Controller 105 may be configured to carry outmethods described herein, and/or to execute or act as the variousmodules, units, etc. More than one computing device 100 may be included,and one or more computing devices 100 may act as the various components,for example user computer 210, analysis assistant (AA) 215 and analysisgenerator (AG) 225 may each be, or include components of, computingdevice 100.

For example, a system described herein may be, or may include componentsof, computing device 100. For example, by executing executable code 125stored in memory 120, controller 105 may be configured to carry out amethod of identifying, simulating, defining, and/or presenting a policyas described herein. By executing executable code 125 stored in memory120, controller 105 may be configured to cause a multi-server databaseto store data according to a policy as described herein. For example,controller 105 may be configured to analyze information related totransactions between an application and a plurality of data sources toproduce analysis results and use the analysis results to simulate apolicy as described herein.

Operating system 115 may be or may include any code segment (e.g., onesimilar to executable code 125 described herein) designed and/orconfigured to perform tasks involving coordination, scheduling,arbitration, supervising, controlling or otherwise managing operation ofcomputing device 100, for example, scheduling execution of softwareprograms or enabling software programs or other modules or units tocommunicate. Operating system 115 may be a commercial operating system.

Memory 120 may be or may include, for example, a Random Access Memory(RAM), a read only memory (ROM), a Dynamic RAM (DRAM), a SynchronousDRAM (SD-RAM), a double data rate (DDR) memory chip, a Flash memory, avolatile memory, a non-volatile memory, a cache memory, a buffer, ashort term memory unit, a long term memory unit, or other suitablememory units or storage units. Memory 120 may be or may include aplurality of, possibly different memory units. Memory 120 may be acomputer or processor non-transitory readable medium, or a computernon-transitory storage medium, e.g., a RAM.

Executable code 125 may be any executable code, e.g., an application, aprogram, a process, task or script. Executable code 125 may be executedby controller 105 possibly under control of operating system 115. Forexample, executable code 125 may be an application that identifies orsimulates a storage policy and/or causes a database to store contentaccording to a policy as further described herein. Although, for thesake of clarity, a single item of executable code 125 is shown in FIG.1, a system according to embodiments of the invention may include aplurality of executable code segments similar to executable code 125that may be loaded into memory 120 and cause controller 105 to carry outmethods described herein. For example, units or modules described herein(e.g., computer 210, AA 215 and AG 225) may be, or may include,controller 105 and executable code 125.

Storage 130 may be or may include, for example, a hard disk drive, afloppy disk drive, a Compact Disk (CD) drive, a CD-Recordable (CD-R)drive, a Blu-ray disk (BD), a universal serial bus (USB) device or othersuitable removable and/or fixed storage unit. Content may be stored instorage 130 and may be loaded from storage 130 into memory 120 where itmay be processed by controller 105. In some embodiments, some of thecomponents shown in FIG. 1 may be omitted. For example, memory 120 maybe a non-volatile memory having the storage capacity of storage 130.Accordingly, although shown as a separate component, storage 130 may beembedded or included in memory 120.

Input devices 135 may be or may include a mouse, a keyboard, a touchscreen or pad or any suitable input device. It will be recognized thatany suitable number of input devices may be operatively connected tocomputing device 100 as shown by block 135. Output devices 140 mayinclude one or more displays or monitors, speakers and/or any othersuitable output devices. It will be recognized that any suitable numberof output devices may be operatively connected to computing device 100as shown by block 140. Any applicable input/output (I/O) devices may beconnected to computing device 100 as shown by blocks 135 and 140. Forexample, a wired or wireless network interface card (NIC), a printer, auniversal serial bus (USB) device or external hard drive may be includedin input devices 135 and/or output devices 140.

Some embodiments of the invention may include an article such as acomputer or processor non-transitory readable medium, or a computer orprocessor non-transitory storage medium, such as for example a memory, adisk drive, or a USB flash memory, encoding, including or storinginstructions, e.g., computer-executable instructions, which, whenexecuted by a processor or controller, carry out methods disclosedherein. For example, an article may include a storage medium such asmemory 120, computer-executable instructions such as executable code 125and a controller such as controller 105.

Some embodiments may be provided in a computer program product that mayinclude a non-transitory machine-readable medium, stored thereoninstructions, which may be used to program a computer, controller, orother programmable devices, to perform methods as disclosed herein.Embodiments of the invention may include an article such as a computeror processor non-transitory readable medium, or a computer or processornon-transitory storage medium, such as for example a memory, a diskdrive, or a USB flash memory, encoding, including or storinginstructions, e.g., computer-executable instructions, which whenexecuted by a processor or controller, carry out methods disclosedherein. The storage medium may include, but is not limited to, any typeof disk including, semiconductor devices such as read-only memories(ROMs) and/or random access memories (RAMs), flash memories,electrically erasable programmable read-only memories (EEPROMs) or anytype of media suitable for storing electronic instructions, includingprogrammable storage devices. For example, in some embodiments, memory120 is a non-transitory machine-readable medium.

A system according to some embodiments of the invention may includecomponents such as, but not limited to, a plurality of centralprocessing units (CPU) or any other suitable multi-purpose or specificprocessors or controllers (e.g., controllers similar to controller 105),a plurality of input units, a plurality of output units, a plurality ofmemory units, and a plurality of storage units. A system mayadditionally include other suitable hardware components and/or softwarecomponents. In some embodiments, a system may include or may be, forexample, a personal computer, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, aworkstation, a server computer, a network device, or any other suitablecomputing device. For example, a system as described herein may includeone or more devices such as computing device 100.

Reference is made to FIG. 2, an overview of a system 200 according tosome embodiments of the present invention. As shown, system 200 mayinclude a user computer 210, an analysis assistant (AA) unit 215, anetwork 220, an analysis generator (AG) 225 and a database 230. Asshown, database 230 may include shards, e.g., shard A 231, shard B 232and shard C 233. Although shards are mainly discussed herein it will beunderstood that the present invention is relevant to other components ina database. For example, in addition to (or instead of) shards, serversmay be used, and identifying, simulating or managing a distribution ofdata may be performed as described herein with respect to servers aswell as shards.

AA 215 may collect data related to an interaction with database 230. Forexample, any data or requests sent from an application on computer 210to database 230 may be collected by AA 215. AA 215 may send collected orother data to Analysis Generator (AG) 225 over network 220. AG 225 mayidentify a distribution of data stored in database 230 based on ananalysis of data received from AA 215. AG 225 may present to a uservarious aspects of a distribution of data stored in database 230, maysimulate distributed storage of data in database 230 and may enforce aselected distributed storage policy such that data in database 230 isstored according to a selected policy.

A system and method according to some embodiments of the invention mayidentify, qualify efficiency and manage data distribution policies fordistribution of data among a number of databases, servers or shardsaccording to a data distribution policy. A data distribution policy orstorage distribution policy (also referred to herein as distributionpolicy) may include rules, criteria, thresholds or scheme usable fordeciding where or how to store a data element in a storage system. Asdescribed, a system and method may create a distribution policy and maysave the distribution policy in a file. For example, AG 225 may useinformation provided by AA 215 and information obtained from database230 to create a distribution policy. AG 225 may store (e.g., in a filein database 230) and/or provide a distribution policy to be used fordatabase 230. For example, a distribution policy may dictate that afirst set of rows (e.g., rows 1 to 17) of a table will be stored inshard A 231 and a second set of rows (e.g., rows 18 to 42) of the tablewill be stored in shard B 232. Rules in a distribution policy may beformatted based on distribution keys. For example, using distributionkeys as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/077,526, adistribution policy may be defined by associating tables' rows orcolumns with distribution keys and values as described.

The phrases “data set”, “data entity” and the term “table”, as usedherein, may relate or refer to the same entity, and may be used hereininterchangeably. For example, in an embodiment, a data set is a table.

As described, a system and method may collect data for analysis,reporting, identification, optimization and simulation of (or for) adata distribution policy.

The term “database” as referred to herein may relate to any applicabledatabase as known in the art. For example, a database may be arelational database or relational database management system (RDBMS),such as MySQL database, or a database may be a Non-Relational DatabaseManagement System, e.g., Object, Graph or Xml based database managementsystems as known in the art.

The term “database cluster” as referred to herein may relate to aplurality of databases, database systems or database units that storesame or similar data elements or data structures. For example, adatabase cluster may be a set of databases, servers or shards operatedtogether to provide redundancy and high availability or additionalfeatures and benefits as known in the art.

The terms “distributed database”, and “distributed database managementsystem” as referred to herein may relate to a system for enabling andmanaging horizontally partitioned database, enabling and managingdistribution of data across a number of databases or database clusters,where each may be considered as a database shard holding part of thetotal available data and together holding all available data. Adistributed database typically enables and manages access to the datathat is distributed across number of database shards.

The terms “foreign key” as referred to herein may be, or may relate to,a field (or collection of fields) in one table that uniquely identifiesa row of another table. In other words, a foreign key may be a column ora combination of columns that is used to establish and enforce a linkbetween two tables.

Shards and distributed database management system may be as described inU.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/077,526 by Doron Levari entitled“SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR INTERACTION WITH A PLURALITY OF DATA SOURCES”which is hereby incorporated by reference. Join operations may be asdescribed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/064,210 by Noam Asnerentitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ANALYSIS OF A DATABASE PROXY” which ishereby incorporated by reference.

The term “data distribution policy” as referred to herein may include,or may be related to, a set or list of logical rules and distributionkeys that may be used to distribute data in a distributed database toidentify, define and/or set a distribution policy, a system and methodmay identify a structure of a database, the size of data entities orelements and access patterns. For example, a system and method mayidentify, determine and/or set database metadata structures,relationships between data entities, such as tables. Other elements thatmay be identified may be foreign keys and stored object definitions. Asystem and method may analyze transactions between an application and adatabase (e.g., queries or requests) and identify loosely coupledrelationships between data elements or entities in the database. Otheraspects, e.g., data tables sizes, data access patterns, including, butnot limited, to amounts of reads and writes to each data entity or tablemay also be identified, recorded and used in identifying and selecting apolicy.

In an embodiment, a data distribution policy may be based on identifyingand classifying the distribution type and defining a distribution key ofdata tables stored in a database. A distribution key may be as describedin U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/077,526.

A table type classified as distributed table may include or be relatedto a distributed table that may be a table who's data is distributedacross several database shards in a way that no two database shardsshare or store the same rows for the table. The table may share the samestructure on all clusters but the data is split between clusters orshards without any overlaps. Tables that are the best candidates forbeing distributed are typically those containing large amount of rows,or tables that are subject to many write operations. Since each shardcontains only a fragment of the data, write operations (including indexupdating) are much faster than of those of a single database. Splittinga large database to shards thus ensures true linear scalability forwrite operations.

The distribution of data may be done according to a data distributionkey which, as describe in the referenced patent application, may be afield in a table and a distribution rule that may be range-based (e.g.,for a controlled distribution) or hash-based (e.g., for a randomdistribution).

A distributed-cascaded table may be a table that is distributed acrossseveral database shards in a way that no two database shards share thesame rows of the table (e.g., in a similar way as described for adistributed table). However, a distributed-cascaded table may alsocontain a strong relationship to a parent distributed table, dependingon a row-column values and distribution of the parent table. A systemand method may use attributes of distributed-cascaded tables to provideadditional options for managing distribution of data sets in adistributed storage system.

A global table may be a table that is copied or replicated to allshards. Global tables are usually smaller size tables which are used in“join” operations with distributed tables. Global tables are typicallyonly infrequently updated. Global tables may be frequently accessed instatements and transactions alongside with distributed tables, allowingcompleting queries and transactions can complete using a single shard.

A master table may be a table that is maintained only on one primary(master) shard. Master tables generally only hold metadata or peripheraldata with no significant volume of data or session concurrency.Additional table types may be defined and identified.

An embodiment of a system or method may assist to scale out a databaseby splitting it into smaller databases, or shards, to evenly distributeworkloads across multiple machines. An embodiment of a system or methodmay ensure that database sessions are evenly distributed between shards.A system or method may assist to distribute data of a single databaseacross multiple geographically distant machines, enabling ageo-distributed database. An output of a system or method may be a setof distribution keys that assure that data that is frequently accessedtogether is also distributed together for optimal scalability,performance and avoidance of cross-shard and unsupported operations.Using keys for distributing a data set (e.g., a table) may be asdescribed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/077,526.

An embodiment of a system or method may ensure evenly distributedsessions by ensuring the data is distributed such that queries andtransactions can complete using a single shard, thus achieving highperformance and scalability. An embodiment of a system or method maycause all data that is typically accessed together in the sametransaction or query to be stored together, e.g., in the same shard andensures that a specific transaction/query is completed within aspecific, single shard.

An embodiment of a system or method may be non-disruptive for existingor running applications and databases, requiring or causing no serviceoutages and none or negligible performance penalties. An embodiment of asystem or method may assist with an analysis of the state of thenon-distributed database environment, provide information about itsreadiness to perform a transformation process into a distributeddatabase environment and assist with decision making process byidentification of data growth patterns and predictive analytics. Anembodiment of a system or method may assist with continuous monitoringand predictive analytics of a non-distributed databases and of adistributed database.

A system and method according to embodiments of the invention mayinclude or enable analysis of existing application's statements, such asbut not limited to system query language (SQL) queries or JSON queriesas known in art, database schemas structures, other databasecharacteristics or any other data generated or sent by an application tothe database (e.g., queries and requests sent from the application),together referred to herein as application data. Based on an analysis ofapplication data, a data distribution policy may be defined. In anembodiment, impacts of the data distribution policy on existing businessor other applications' code may be minimal.

Analysis of data used, generated or sent by an application may includeanalyzing data related an application's Structured Query Language (SQL)statements and schema. For example, a database schema may be a set oftables, e.g., a collection of related tables or other data structuresused by (and/or stored for) an application. Based on analysis ofcollected data, an optimal distribution policy may be defined. Forexample, a distribution of data in a table across a number of databasesor shards may be defined based on an analysis of SQL requests generatedby an application such that SQL requests generated by an application areserved from a minimal set of databases or accessing a minimal set ofstorage units.

Data collection may include collection of statements (e.g. SQL requests,queries or messages) by a collection unit that may be, for example, AA215, or AG 225 described herein. In other cases, a network sniffer maybe used to capture traffic between an application and a database, or alog file (e.g., MySQL general log) may be used or database proxy unitmay be used as known in the art.

Collection of data may be performed over several hours, several days, ormay be performed in a continuous, low-overhead manner. Data generated byan application may be used in order to determine a full spectrum ofstatements that an application sends to a database. Collection may beperformed such that a full coverage of the application's functionalityand all “types” of its statements are represented in the collected data.A system and method may further collect information related to adatabase's metadata structure, data tables' sizes and database server'scharacteristics.

Collected data may be or may be related to: online businesstransactions, daily/weekly maintenance procedures, batch dataprocessing, business reporting etc. The time spent for collection ofdata may be predefined or automatically defined. Typically, a few hoursof data should provide sufficient coverage, but they may be stretchedacross several time periods over 24 hours or several days. In anembodiment, newly collected data may be compared (e.g., by AA 215 or AG225) to previously collected data and collection process may beautomatically terminated upon determining, (e.g., by AA 215 or AG 225),that sufficient coverage was reached, e.g., newly collected data doesnot enrich the already collected data (and therefore it may be assumedthat data already collected adequately covers the scope of datagenerated by the application). A collection process (e.g., in AA 215)may be interrupted (e.g., by AG 225) and restarted to covernon-continuous time intervals.

In an embodiment, an AA 215 may automate a data collection. In anembodiment, AA 215 may pre-process collected data to minimize the sizeof files that store the collected data. In an embodiment, AA 215 and/orAG 225 may obfuscate, encrypt or normalize collected data in order toeliminate a risk of exposing sensitive or protected information.

An analysis of collected data may be directed to optimizing flows. Aflow may be or may include a number of transactions, requests orqueries. For example, if an application typically requests an employeetable from a database after requesting the department table then asystem or method may identify (or define) the two requests as a flow.

To improve interaction with a database, requests generated by anapplication may be analyzed to determine the resources accessed in orderto serve the requests. Based on the analysis, a data distribution policythat is optimized for application's database schema, transactions andbusiness needs is generated or defined. For example, with respect to theemployee and department tables example, a system and method may define apolicy that dictates storing the portion of data relevant to a certainemployee in an employee table and portion of data relevant to a certaindepartment in a department table on the same shard such that a flow onlyrequires accessing one single shard.

In an embodiment, AA 215 may be an agent module running on a user'ssystem (e.g., user computer 210). In an embodiment, AA 215 may operatein a non-disruptive manner, enabling it's activation in any environment,including product, testing and development environments, requiring orcausing no service outages and none or negligible performance penalties.Although shown included in user computer 210, AA 215 otherconfigurations may be contemplated. For example, AA 215 may be, or maybe installed in, a network device or in a server, e.g., a server thathosts AG 225. AA 215 may be activated on a database host (e.g. databaseserver) or the client host (e.g. application server) and collectapplication data using a tapping unit, such as network sniffer unit or atransparent proxy network unit as known in the art. Application data maybe any data generated and/sent by an application, e.g., an applicationrunning on user computer 210. For example, queries or requests sent todatabase 230 may be captured by AA 215 and included in application data.Accordingly, it will be understood that any information communicatedbetween user computer 210 and database 230 may be available to a systemand method according to the invention.

AA 215 may capture any relevant information on the user's environment orcomputer. AA 215 may generate data, for example, AA 215 may generatelists of files or objects requested (by a user) from a database and mayfurther store sizes of requested objects etc. Any information collected,generated and stored by AA 215 may be provided to AG 225.

AA 215 may capture or generate information that may include, but notlimited to, these classes of data: statements, tables' sizes, databasetables' metadata structure and database server's characteristics andmetrics. These classes of data are collectively referred to herein asapplication data. Application data as referred to herein may includeadditional information, e.g., time values, software versions and thelike.

AA 215 may capture or generate a list of application-to-databasecommands with statistics such as quantity, percent and response time.For example, the application-to-database commands for which data may becaptured or generated and recorded may be SQL queries. Collected andgenerated data may be processed. For example, captured SQL or othercommands may be obfuscated, normalized and encrypted.

Commands, transactions, requests or queries captured may be processedand a normalized or standardized version may be created. For example,clauses' values (or literals or expressions in commands) may be replacedby predefined values, e.g., “1”, “2” and so on, to create a template(normalized or standardized version) that is applicable to all “similar”commands. Using a normalized template, statistics may be generated andkept, e.g., frequency, percent out of an entire workflow. Examples of atemplate or a normalized or standardized version generated by processingcommands, transactions or messages are shown below, obfuscated data isunderscored in the examples below. In the below example related to aselect statement, the table and column names are real, but the originalvalue of the literal in the “where” clause has been replaced with‘str1’.

-   -   select * from item_index_info where index_key=‘str1’;

In the below example related to an insert statement, the table andcolumn names are original, but the inserted bits of data have beenreplaced with trivial substitutes in the process of obfuscation.

-   -   insert into target_url_info    -   (domain_id, first_date_timestamp, link_key, target_id,        partner_domain)    -   values    -   (1, 2, ‘str1’, 3, ‘str2’), (1, 2, ‘str1’, 3, ‘str2’);

A system and method may collect (e.g., by AA 215 or AG 225) the numbersof rows and size on disk per table. This information may be used by asystem or method to optimize distribution for tables that can benefitfrom it the most. A list of tables and their sizes may include no actualinformation about the data in the tables, e.g., the list may be metadatarelated to the tables. For example, metadata may include tables' or datasets' names, structural definitions of data sets, sizes etc.

Generally, a schema structure may include any information related to atables in a schema, tables' structures, e.g., the fields in a table,foreign key relations, special database objects, such as data views,stored procedures, stored objects and additional database and schemadefinitions and configuration settings. For example, a schema mayinclude data generated by a Data Definition Language (DDL) as known inthe art (e.g., as described in). For example, using DDL, a system (e.g.,AG 225) may obtain from database 230 any information related to tablesstructure.

AG 225 may receive, from AA 215, data collected by AA 215, analyze thereceived data and use the analysis results to create reports and todefine and create a data distribution policy such that interactions ofan application with a database are optimized. The data may be collectedand processed (e.g., summarized or normalized) and may then be providedto AG 225, e.g., periodically or continuously, over network 220.

AG 225 may store application data, distribution policies and otherinformation in a database, e.g. in an internal database. AG 225 mayidentify logically related data chunks and data distribution policiesfor classification and management of logically related data chunks anddata sets in a single-database or in a distributed multi-databaseenvironment. A logical data chunk may be data related to a plurality ofportions of data stored in plurality of related data sets, such relateddata tables. For example, a logical data chunk may be, or may include,all relevant information related to a specific user and a specific useractivities (e.g., a user's profile in a social network). In anothercase, a logical data chunks may be, or may include details related totransactions (e.g., personal, transactions and/or historicaltransactions) related to a specific bank account in a banking system.Any logical entity may be defined (e.g., user, company, applicationetc.) and data related to a logical entity may be included in anassociated logical data chunk.

A logical data chunk may be portion of data stored in one table (or dataset) or it may be portion of data stored in several tables or data sets.Data sets or tables storing data portions of logical data chunks areconsidered (and referred to herein) as related or linked tables. Asystem and method according to embodiments of the invention may identifylist of groups of related data tables and data sets, and list of rules,such as table's column-rows keys, for identification of data withinthese data tables and data sets for each logical data chunk. A list ofgroups and rules may be used for defining data distribution policy. Thedata distribution policy may be used for optimal data distribution in adistributed database. Data distribution may be considered when groups ofrelated data for a logical data chunk may be stored in the samedatabase, shard or server.

A relation or link, between two data sets, such as database tables, maybe uniquely identified by the combination a datasets identification anda property name in each of the data sets, e.g., columns in tables.Additional properties may be the other data sets that it refers to (canbe self-reference). In order to analyze or determine how data is storedin a database and used by an application or user, a system and methodmay identify a set of related tables, e.g., a set of tables typicallyaccessed together, at the same, or with relation to the same command orrequest.

A system and method may use the collected static data, such as databasemetadata or tables' structure, collected dynamic data, transactions andstatements and SQL commands to determine relations between data sets(e.g., tables in a database). Relations (or links as referred to herein)may be stored in a database. For example, by analyzing informationprovided as described, AG 225 identifies related tables, defines rulesfor identification or related portions of data, such as table rows orrecords, in a plurality of data sets, together combining as logical datachunk. Such rules are referred as data distribution policy, ordistribution policy, and may be used for management of storage andaccess in a distributed database 230.

For example, to identify related tables, AG 225 may analyze commands orrequests and may determine that two tables are related if both tablesappear together in a request. For example, if an employee table and adepartment table are both referred to in a request (and therefore, bothneed to be accessed in order to generate a response) then AG 225 maydetermine the employee table and the department table are linked. Linkedtables may be included in a logical data chunk, for example, theemployee and department tables may be included in a logical data chunk.Join operations may be an indication of related data sets or tables. Forexample, if in order to generate a response for a query or command, datafrom a first and second table needs to be “joined” then AG 225 maydetermine the first and second tables are linked and may include them ina logical data chunk. As described, using the referred distributionpolicy a logical data chunk may be identified and stored in a singleshard. For example, records for a specific employee in an employee tableand records on specific department in a department table may beidentified as part of a single logical data chunk and cause storing dataand accessing data the for the specific employee and department in thesame shard.

Commands patterns may be identified by AG 225. By analysis ofinformation as described, AG 225 may identify, in a captured commandstream, patterns of commands frequently appearing together. For exampleif the commands “get department” and “get employee” appear 200 timesover the flow, a system may determine there's a relation or a linkbetween the employee and department tables. As described, upondetermining two or more tables are linked or related, AG 225 may includethe tables in a logical data chunk and cause defining relations betweenthe tables for storing relevant portions of data in each table of thelogical data chunk in a single shard.

A foreign key may be a field (or collection of fields) in one table thatuniquely references or identifies a row in another table. For example, aforeign key may be a column or a combination of columns in a first tablethat is used to establish and enforce a link to a second table (thuslinking the two tables). For example, a foreign key may be identifiedusing DDL as known in the art. Based on a foreign key in a first tablethat reference a second table, AG 225 determine the tables are linked,may include the tables in a logical data chunk and may cause the logicaldata chunk to be stored in a single shard.

AG 225 may include tables or data sets based on name matching. Forexample, AG 225 may include tables in a logical data chunk based ontables' names and tables' columns names or table fields with similarnames. For example identifying a field “department_id” in the employeetable, a system and method may determine there is a relation between anemployee table and a department table. A system or method may receive,from a user, further information about additional relations betweentables as well as accept override action for the automaticallyidentified relations. For example, a graphical user interface (GUI) maybe provided to a user enabling the user to define or create 1 logicaldata chunks, delete logical data chunks and so on.

AG 225 may produce analysis results and may store the analysis results,e.g., in a file in an internal database. Analysis results may be used todefine a distribution policy as described. For example, based on theanalysis results that indicate two tables are typically accessed inrelated transactions (e.g., in requests from a specific, same user), adistribution policy may cause storing the two tables on the same shard.Analysis results may be used to generate and present a report.

Reference is made to FIGS. 3-6, that show screenshots of exemplaryreports, statistical and other information that may be graphicallypresented by a system and method according to embodiments of theinvention. For example, AG 225 may produce (based on the analysisresults and/or other data) an initial report. As shown in FIG. 3, aninitial report may include and show (e.g., on a monitor of user computer210) various operational aspects of database 230. For example, a reportmay include schemas statistics summary, e.g., per each schema,statistical and analytical information may be presented, e.g., number oftables accessed, number of read operations, number of write operations,number of statements that include “joins” etc.

A report may include problematic objects, e.g., tables for which AG 225did not collect enough data in order to present reliable information.Problematic objects may be tables or data sets that will be too smallfor their intended use if the current distribution scheme or policy aremaintained. Problematic objects may also be database views, storedfunctions, stored procedures and additional database objects.

A report may include information related to table relationships. Forexample, a report may include the number and attributes of detectedforeign keys (e.g., with an indication of whether or not a key isexpected), detected name matching links (links made based on namematching as described) and detected links via joins. As shown, a reportmay include schemas and tables statistical or other information. Asystem may graphically sort or graphically filter presented statisticaldata (e.g., as shown in FIGS. 4-6) based on one or multiple parameterssuch as: Size of data, Writes, Reads, referenced in joins, referencingjoins, ratios of data reads to data writes and additional parameters.

As system and method may enable a user to perform actions. For example,a user may define, change or otherwise manage a distribution policy,e.g., in order to optimize a distribution policy. For example, a usermay add, delete or modify relationships between tables, adjust expectedsizes of tables and read/write statistics per table, modify schemas andtables definitions. A user may indicate an intent to use one or multiplerules out of set of rules for defining the distribution policy. Thedistribution policy may be used for storage of logical data chunks“together” on the same shard or otherwise optimize operations with thegroup of tables.

AG 225 may generate, present and provide an initial or suggested datadistribution policy or grouping based on the analysis results and a usermay accept or modify one or multiple definition parts in the suggestedlist of groups of related data sets, the suggested set of rules and thesuggested data distribution policy. AG 225 may enable a user to definemultiple groups, possibly overlapping each other. Some tables may beungrouped automatically, e.g., by AG 225 if a conflict is found. A usermay provide input to cause modification of distribution prioritizationfor each table in each database schema.

AG 225 may generate or define a data distribution policy based on ascoring. For example, a score for a possible distribution (ordistribution policy) may be calculated based on a simulation ofpotential data distribution and distributed data access, based on thedistribution policy, the submitted and analyzed application data, suchas transactions and statements, the data set structures, sizes of datasets being accessed or processed, number of reads, writes, joins etc.

A report may include selective statistics per each defined group,applying various filters such as tables with specific relations, ortables with reads to writes calculated ratio, or distributed cascadedtables, or transactions and statements of various specific nature. Areport may include a list of possible roots in each group and how theirchildren (e.g., related or linked tables) cover each group. Using a GUItool, a user may select “sharding roots” (e.g., select a root for ashard) and incrementally build the policy. For example, a user maychoose which groups or subgroups become cascaded trees. For example, auser may review tables that are not connected to any root and decide howto distribute them.

Using a GUI tool as shown in FIGS. 4-6, a user may indicate what to dowith problematic objects or links, e.g., ignore, change rule in apolicy. Other operations that may be provided by a system may be editinga graph (a visualized policy), acknowledging or accepting a namematching relation, delete or add name matching fields or rules andsaving a report, e.g., in a file on database 230.

A user may be enabled to select tables or data chunks that will resideon the same database or shard. For example, using a report and seeingwhich data chunks are typically accessed at the same time or context (orare otherwise related), a user may add a configuration, policy orgrouping of related logical data chunks or tables and based on agrouping or association of data chunks, a system may store associateddata chunks on the same server, database or shard.

Using a graphical interactive report as described, a user may be enabledto group related tables, even if there is no specific relationshipparent table. If the user picks two or more groups, a system or methodmay indicate conflicting tables, e.g., tables belonging to more than onegroup. A system may show or otherwise indicate to a user the types andamount of SQL queries' joins that a particular table has with othertables from other groups.

A group as referred to herein may be a set of tables that have relationsbetween them. A group may be a hierarchical tree including many tables,with many levels, “glued” by relations. A group may have a root table,with directly related tables to it, and related tables that are relatedto those tables as a second level relationship and so on.

As shown in FIG. 5, groups (or trees) may be graphically presented to auser. Additional statistics generated by a system and method describedherein are shown. For example, percent of all reads and writes and rowsfrom the overall captured workload that is using those tables. Alsoshown are determined relations that are inside this group (betweentables participating in this group) and outside this group (betweentables in this group—to tables in other groups). In an embodiment, atable can belong to one and only one group.

A report may include drill down information. For example, a report mayinclude drill down to every column that shows which tables are shardtables, which are global, show what comprises the statistics (e.g.,first drill is to tables, second is to SQL commands on that table, orfirst drill is directly to the SQL commands), what are the relevantrestrictions.

A report may include alternate paths between tables may be shown. Forexample, multiple relations. A user may be enabled to mark legal andillegal (accepted or rejected) relations between tables or data chunks(e.g., indicate ones that are to be stored cross shard)

A report may include an indication of tables that are not included inany group. A user may be enabled to edit tables and relations. A usermay be enabled to Export/Import any portion of a report (e.g., to CSVformat).

Information related to tables may be extracted from a report. Forexample, tables and table relations metadata or information may beextracted and presented in various output options, such as a tabular asshown below.

Schema Table PK Row count Size SELECT rank DML rank Overall rank Userpriority

Tabular views may include different colors for different relation types,graphic maps and the like. Actions on, or related to the table above mayinclude: prioritization of a table, editing of row details, sort by anytable field and drag and drop operations as known in the art.

Another exemplary Tabular view is shown below.

Schema Table PK Row count Size SELECT rank DML rank Overall rank Userpriority

Actions on, or related to the table above may include: removing “namematching” relations (e.g., reject wrong matching), adding relations(e.g., missed by AG 225), assign a priority to a relation, edit rowdetails and sort by a field. User input may override an analysis result,and a distribution policy may be generated based on a combination ofanalysis results and user input where, if a conflict between analysisresults and user input is detected, user input is used. Tables, policiesand any other information described herein may be stored, exported orotherwise used as known in the art.

A report may show all tables for which data is missing or classificationwas not complete, sorted by score, and allow actions such as: choose toleave a table as global table, link a table to a distributed ordistributed cascaded tables hierarchy, or change table type to adistributed table type, thus creating a new logical data chunk and grouphierarchy, or change a table type to become a master table. A system mayidentify impacts of the change on the analyzed statements andtransactions and provide relevant information or warnings about the datadistribution and data access implications of this change. For example, achange may cause a data access that will require joins of portions ofdata stored in a table on one shard with data stored in another shard,known in art as cross shard data aggregation, thus creating lessefficient data access. Any other operation that may cause modificationof a data distribution policy may be enabled.

A method and system may simulate (and present a simulation) of a datadistribution policy, based on the identified and configuredrelationships, and without the need for the actual database and actualapplication. A method and system may present a report of the simulationrevealing the effectiveness and efficiency of the data distributionpolicy, based on the collected application data and the analyzed andconfigured groups.

A simulated report may include a list of list of operations that can berun with maximal efficiency, in parallel, on multiple data shards, alist of operations requiring basic aggregations, a list of operationsrequiring cross-shard operations and/or a list of operations that cannotbe executed in a distributed database management system (a shardeddatabase).

As shown by FIG. 6, a report produced and presented by AG 225 may showor contain distribution or percentages of statement type elements suchas control statements (set, commit, rollback, etc.), statements run onnonexistent tables, relevant statements. Other data presented may berelated to read operations, e.g., reads from a single cluster, readsfrom all clusters, reads using cascading distribution key resolution orreads using advanced cross-database result aggregation (reads requiringmore than one database).

Other data presented may be related to write operations, e.g., writesrun on a single cluster, writes to a single cluster using cascadingdistribution key resolution, writes to all clusters, using cascadingdistribution key resolution, using advanced cross-database resultaggregation etc.

Other data presented may be related to statement statistics, e.g.,unique statements total number of statements and problematic statements.Other data presented as shown may be numbers of unique restrictedstatements, unique read restrictions, unique write restrictions, totalrestricted statements, read restrictions, total write restrictions,unique error statements and total error statements etc.

Reference is made to FIG. 7 that shows a flowchart and components of asystem according to an embodiment of the present invention. Generally,the components shown in FIG. 7 may be included in AA 215. As shown, atap unit 701, database log 702 and/or proxy unit may provide datarelated to transactions to a statements collector 721 that may producenormalized aggregated statements 731. As shown, normalized aggregatedstatements 731 may be provided to an aggregator 723. As further shown,data sets sizes 711, schemas structures 712 and database properties 713may be collected by a database mapper 722 and provided to aggregator723. As shown, application data 750 produced by aggregator 723 may besent by a sender unit 760. For example, sender unit 760 may send data toAG 225.

Reference is made to FIG. 8 that shows a flowchart and components of asystem according to an embodiment of the present invention. Generally,the components shown in FIG. 8 may be included in AG 225. As shown,application data loader 821 and user input loader 822 may receiveapplication data 801 and user application data 803 and provide the datato analyzer 831 and internal database 810. As shown, analyzer 831 mayproduce analysis report 840. As shown, analysis report 840 and userpolicy modifications 802 may be provided to policy builder 832 that mayproduce data distribution policy 850. As shown, data distribution policy850 may be provided to policy evaluator 833 and to policy exporter 834.As shown, policy evaluator 833 may create and present a policyefficiency score report 851. Policy exporter 834 may export a policy,e.g., provide a policy to an external system.

Reference is made to FIG. 9 that shows a flowchart according to anembodiment of the present invention. As shown by block 910, a method mayinclude analyzing information related to transactions between anapplication and a plurality of data storage systems to produce analysisresults. For example, AA 215 may capture transactions between usecomputer 210 and database 230. Captured or obtained information relatedto transactions may include metadata related to tables or data setsstored in the plurality of data storage systems. For example, AG 225 mayquery database 230 and receive from database 230 metadata related totables stored in database 230, e.g., sizes, number of accesses made to atable, structure of tables and the like.

Information obtained and processed (e.g., by AG 225 and AA 215) mayinclude transactions (payload and metadata related to transactions),activity per table or data set, join operations per transaction or pertable, database schema, structures of tables, size of tables andactivity related to tables. For example AA 215 may capture or obtaininformation related to transactions as described and AG 225 may obtaininformation from database 230 as described. Any information obtained byAG 225 and AA 215 may be analyzed to produce analysis results that maybe used to define a set of rules that may be used to define a datadistribution policy. Other systems, methods or sources for obtaininginformation may include a log file (e.g., in database 230), a networksniffer that monitors data on network 220 and a proxy as known in theart.

Analysis results may include identifying access patterns and may furtherinclude analyzing information related to access patterns. For example,sequences of reads or writes to database 230 may be identified or arecognizable flow of webpages to/from database 230 may be identified.For example, in an exemplary online banking flow, procedure oroperation, a set or sequence of requests may repeat itself when usersdeposit money, the set or sequence of requests may be identified as aflow. As described, a distribution policy based on the above exemplaryonline banking flow may cause all tables accessed in the set or sequenceof requests to be stored in the same shard such that the flow isoptimized with respect to efficiency, performance or cost.

As shown by block 915, a method may include using the analysis resultsto produce a set of rules for defining logical data chunks, wherein alogical data chunk includes at least a portion of at least one data setstored in the plurality of data storage systems. Producing a set ofrules as described may include recording a number of applicationtransactions, e.g., storing payload and metadata of transactions in amemory, selectively replacing entries, fields or portions in therecorded transactions to produce normalized transactions, and producingthe set of rules based on analyzing the normalized transactions. Forexample, generating a normalized version of a transaction may includereplacing a value or term (e.g., a “where” clause) by a predefinedstring or value (e.g., ‘str1’).

As described, based on analyzing information as described, AG 225 or AA215 may identify a plurality of portions of data sets accessed withrelation to a specific transaction. For example, a number rows orcolumns in a respective number of tables in database 230 may all beaccessed in the above exemplary online banking flow and therefore, AG225 may include the rows or columns in a logical data chunk.Accordingly, a data chunk may include portions of two or more tables ordata sets.

AG 225 may include a portion of a data set (e.g., a row or column of atable) in a logical data chunk based on any information, collected orgenerated, e.g., based on an analysis result. For example, inclusion ofa portion of a data set in a logical data chunk may be based on aforeign key in a table, a sequence of transactions related to a table, aloosely coupled relation between tables, table properties and areference to a data set in two or more requests.

As shown by block 920, a method may include defining an optimal datadistribution policy based on the set of rules. For example, an optimaldata distribution policy may include, or may define, distribution rulesfor distribution of portions of data in data sets across a plurality ofdata storage systems in database 230. For example, a rule may dictatethat a set of columns of a respective set of tables are to be stored ina specific shard or a selected server. For example, based on a rule or adata distribution policy, a logical data chunk is stored in a singledata shard such that transaction that access data included in thelogical data chunk are optimized. For example, based on an optimal datadistribution policy a first portion of a table may be stored in a firstshard and a second portion of the table may be stored in a second shard.For example, if it is determined that users in first part of the worldtypically access a first set of columns in a table and users in a secondpart of the world typically access a second set of columns in the sametable then a policy may define that the table is to distributed andfurther that the first set of columns will be stored in a first shard orserver (e.g., one geographically close to the first part of the world)and the second set of columns is to be stored in a second shard orserver.

A set of efficiency scores for a set of data distribution policies maybe calculated. For example, for each of a set of distribution policies,AG 225 may calculate efficiency scores or metrics such as, for example,time to generate a response, number of operations required to generate aresponse or access a table and the like. Scores and metrics may bepresented to a user who may select a distribution policy based onpresented policies and scores.

A distribution policy or rule may be defined based on any one of: asharding root a data set, user selection, input or selection asdescribed. A distribution policy or rule may be defined based on a sizeof a data set, a set of data sets related to a specific data set. Adistribution policy or rule may be defined based on data access patternto the data set as described.

As described, a distribution and usage of data sets may be presented toa user, user input may be then received and a system or method maydefine a logical data chunk based on input from the user. For example,provided with a graphical presentation of distribution and usage of datain a database, a user may indicate that columns or rows in one or moretables are to be include in a logical data chunk. As described, alogical data chunk may be treated as an entity that may, for example, bestored in a single shard or may be distributed based on a policy fordistributing logical data chunks.

For example, a system and method may provide and present (e.g.,graphically), for a selected or specific table or data set, data accesspatterns related to the data set, join operations related to the dataset, transactions referencing the data set, the size of the data set anddata growth pattern of the data set. For example, the rate with which atable is growing in size over time may be presented to help a userselect a policy or distribution. Other aspects graphically presented maybe, the number of writes to a table, the number of reads from a table,the number of references to a table in join operations and the number ofreferences from a table in join operations.

Various efficiency metrics or scores may be generated, provided andpresented. For example, efficiency metrics or scores generated andpresented may be presented for a data distribution or for access to aspecific, single or selected shard or server. Efficiency metrics orscores generated and presented may be related, or for, cross shard dataaccess, global tables reads, of global table writes, unique or specificstatements or transactions, total statements or transactions and/orblocked statements or transactions.

Unless explicitly stated, the method embodiments described herein arenot constrained to a particular order in time or chronological sequence.Additionally, some of the described method elements may be skipped, orthey may be repeated, during a sequence of operations of a method.

While certain features of the invention have been illustrated anddescribed herein, many modifications, substitutions, changes, andequivalents may occur to those skilled in the art. It is, therefore, tobe understood that the appended claims are intended to cover all suchmodifications and changes as fall within the true spirit of theinvention.

Various embodiments have been presented. Each of these embodiments mayof course include features from other embodiments presented, andembodiments not specifically described may include various featuresdescribed herein.

1. A method comprising: analyzing information related to transactionsbetween an application and at least one data storage system in aplurality of data storage systems to produce analysis results; using theanalysis results to produce a set of rules for identifying logical datachunks, wherein a logical data chunk includes at least a portion of atleast one data set stored in the plurality of data storage systems; anddefining an optimal data distribution policy based on the set of rulesand containing at least one rule. 2.-31. (canceled)